Barbara Kruger: Another day. Another night.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents the first comprehensive survey in Spain of American artist Barbara Kruger, whose bold and thought-provoking work engages audiences for over five decades. This extensive exhibition, curated by Lekha Hileman Waitoller, examines how Kruger uses the power of words and images to question the structures that shape everyday life—identity, desire, truth, and control.

From the outset of her career, Kruger challenges the function of language in the media, politics, and personal thought. Employing concise, declarative phrases in stark black and white text, accented with red or green, she adopts the visual style of advertising. However, instead of promoting consumer products, her works prompt critical reflection. Phrases such as “Your body is a battleground” and “I shop therefore I am” become cultural references, raising pressing questions about gender, consumption, and power.

The exhibition brings together works spanning her career—early paste-ups, large-scale vinyl texts, video installations, audio pieces, and site-specific works created specifically for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. As visitors move through the galleries, Kruger’s art extends across floors, walls, and screens, creating an immersive visual and auditory environment. Her work is not solely for observation—it invites experience, interrogation, and confrontation.

Engaging with Bilbao’s linguistic and cultural context, Kruger produces work in both Spanish and Basque, exploring how language shapes identity and collective life. In her words, “Language is a powerful force—and it defines us.”

In an era where information is constant and truth appears increasingly unstable, Kruger’s work encourages a slower pace—inviting close reading and deep thought. With sharp wit, urgency, and precise visual language, she reminds us that images communicate—and that we must do the same.